Hockey: Is Belliveau Out at Dalhousie?

First was the rumour thread on HF Boards yesterday. Today comes the rumour story in the Chronicle-Herald. So while the students are on their Christmas break it looks like Dalhousie Tigers men's hockey head coach Pete Belliveau might indeed be gone from behind the bench, midway through a horrendous 2-11-1 first half. Riding an eleven game losing streak. And your home rink is to be torn down at the end of the season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

In Glenn MacDonald's piece, the reading between the quotes do appear to indicate that Belliveau is done:

Despite speculation making the rounds that Belliveau would be replaced, Dalhousie athletic director John MacDonald would only confirm that he has a meeting with the Tigers coaching staff this morning.

"Coach Belliveau has been asked to a meeting to talk about a few things but there’s nothing that’s coming from my way," MacDonald said Thursday evening.

However, Belliveau said Thursday he wasn’t aware of any meeting.

"If there’s a meeting I won’t be there," Belliveau said.

If Belliveau is gone, I will miss him. While his coaching and managing style (most CIS hockey head coaches are effectively coaches and general managers and are responsible for all hockey operations including recruiting) may be polarizing, he was always open, warm and entertaining with the media.

Belliveau guided Moncton to a national championship in 1995, was the architect for the revival of CIS hockey at Lakehead, and last season finally had Dalhousie back in the playoffs. At the same time he's always been shadowed by whispers about players unhappy with his methods who stop playing for him, or quit. When you're winning these mutterings tend to get ignored, but when you're losing, those whispers get louder, and true or not, might have cost him his job.

UPDATE: Well according to an official release from Dalhousie, and in a move reminiscent of a NHL team, it looks like Belliveau is moving upstairs and he will "delegate on-ice authority to current assistant coach Chris Donnell".